Article 1Nature and Scope of Obligations

1.
Members
shall give effect to the provisions of this Agreement.
Members may, but shall not be obliged to, implement in
their law more extensive protection than is required by
this Agreement, provided that such protection does not
contravene the provisions of this Agreement. Members
shall be free to determine the appropriate method of
implementing the provisions of this Agreement within
their own legal system and practice.

2.
For
the purposes of this Agreement, the term
intellectual property refers to all
categories of intellectual property that are the subject
of Sections 1 through 7 of Part II.

3.
Members
shall accord the treatment provided for in this Agreement
to the nationals of other Members. (1)
In respect of the relevant intellectual property right,
the nationals of other Members shall be understood as
those natural or legal persons that would meet the
criteria for eligibility for protection provided for in
the Paris Convention (1967), the Berne Convention (1971),
the Rome Convention and the Treaty on Intellectual
Property in Respect of Integrated Circuits, were all
Members of the WTO members of those conventions. (2)
Any Member availing itself of the possibilities provided
in paragraph 3 of Article 5 or paragraph 2 of
Article 6 of the Rome Convention shall make a
notification as foreseen in those provisions to the
Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights (the Council for TRIPS).

Article 2Intellectual Property Conventions

1.
In
respect of Parts II, III and IV of this Agreement,
Members shall comply with Articles 1 through 12, and
Article 19, of the Paris Convention (1967).

2.
Nothing
in Parts I to IV of this Agreement shall derogate
from existing obligations that Members may have to each
other under the Paris Convention, the Berne Convention,
the Rome Convention and the Treaty on Intellectual
Property in Respect of Integrated Circuits.

Article 3National Treatment

1.
Each
Member shall accord to the nationals of other Members
treatment no less favourable than that it accords to its
own nationals with regard to the protection (3)
of intellectual property, subject to the exceptions
already provided in, respectively, the Paris Convention
(1967), the Berne Convention (1971), the Rome
Convention or the Treaty on Intellectual Property in
Respect of Integrated Circuits. In respect of performers,
producers of phonograms and broadcasting organizations,
this obligation only applies in respect of the rights
provided under this Agreement. Any Member availing itself
of the possibilities provided in Article 6 of the
Berne Convention (1971) or paragraph 1(b) of
Article 16 of the Rome Convention shall make a
notification as foreseen in those provisions to the
Council for TRIPS.

2.
Members
may avail themselves of the exceptions permitted under
paragraph 1 in relation to judicial and
administrative procedures, including the designation of
an address for service or the appointment of an agent
within the jurisdiction of a Member, only where such
exceptions are necessary to secure compliance with laws
and regulations which are not inconsistent with the
provisions of this Agreement and where such practices are
not applied in a manner which would constitute a
disguised restriction on trade.

Article 4Most-Favoured-Nation Treatment

With
regard to the protection of intellectual property, any
advantage, favour, privilege or immunity granted by a
Member to the nationals of any other country shall be
accorded immediately and unconditionally to the nationals
of all other Members. Exempted from this obligation are
any advantage, favour, privilege or immunity accorded by
a Member:

(a) deriving
from international agreements on judicial assistance or
law enforcement of a general nature and not particularly
confined to the protection of intellectual property;

(b) granted
in accordance with the provisions of the Berne Convention
(1971) or the Rome Convention authorizing that the
treatment accorded be a function not of national
treatment but of the treatment accorded in another
country;

(c) in
respect of the rights of performers, producers of
phonograms and broadcasting organizations not provided
under this Agreement;

(d) deriving
from international agreements related to the protection
of intellectual property which entered into force prior
to the entry into force of the WTO Agreement, provided
that such agreements are notified to the Council for
TRIPS and do not constitute an arbitrary or unjustifiable
discrimination against nationals of other Members.

Article 5Multilateral Agreements on Acquisition or Maintenance
of Protection

The
obligations under Articles 3 and 4 do not apply to
procedures provided in multilateral agreements concluded
under the auspices of WIPO relating to the acquisition or
maintenance of intellectual property rights.

Article 6Exhaustion

For
the purposes of dispute settlement under this Agreement,
subject to the provisions of Articles 3 and 4
nothing in this Agreement shall be used to address the
issue of the exhaustion of intellectual property rights.

Article 7Objectives

The
protection and enforcement of intellectual property
rights should contribute to the promotion of
technological innovation and to the transfer and
dissemination of technology, to the mutual advantage of
producers and users of technological knowledge and in a
manner conducive to social and economic welfare, and to a
balance of rights and obligations.

Article 8Principles

1.
Members
may, in formulating or amending their laws and
regulations, adopt measures necessary to protect public
health and nutrition, and to promote the public interest
in sectors of vital importance to their socio-economic
and technological development, provided that such
measures are consistent with the provisions of this
Agreement.

2.
Appropriate
measures, provided that they are consistent with the
provisions of this Agreement, may be needed to prevent
the abuse of intellectual property rights by right
holders or the resort to practices which unreasonably
restrain trade or adversely affect the international
transfer of technology.

1.
When nationals are referred to in this
Agreement, they shall be deemed, in the case of a
separate customs territory Member of the WTO, to mean
persons, natural or legal, who are domiciled or who have
a real and effective industrial or commercial
establishment in that customs territory. back to text

2.
In this Agreement, Paris Convention refers to
the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial
Property; Paris Convention (1967) refers to
the Stockholm Act of this Convention of
14 July 1967. “Berne Convention”
refers to the Berne Convention for the Protection of
Literary and Artistic Works; Berne Convention
(1971) refers to the Paris Act of this Convention
of 24 July 1971. Rome Convention
refers to the International Convention for the Protection
of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting
Organizations, adopted at Rome on
26 October 1961. Treaty on Intellectual
Property in Respect of Integrated Circuits (IPIC
Treaty) refers to the Treaty on Intellectual Property in
Respect of Integrated Circuits, adopted at Washington on
26 May 1989. WTO Agreement refers
to the Agreement Establishing the WTO. back to text

3.
For the purposes of Articles 3 and 4,
protection shall include matters affecting
the availability, acquisition, scope, maintenance and
enforcement of intellectual property rights as well as
those matters affecting the use of intellectual property
rights specifically addressed in this Agreement. back to text